Only a couple of us got into phase 1 beta with this first wave, but Solaris will be on Bahamut server for phase 1. If anyone would like to join us for testing, shits and giggles, PM me for the ventrilo info.

God, I wish I could take this week off, but I have way too much work to do. The worst part is that I may have to work late on several of those days.

Maybe I'll wake up early tomorrow and fool around with the character creator a bit before I head off. Heh.

Edit: Also have been messing with the benchmark more and have found out what settings to turn off to maximize performance.

Code:

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Exploration)Tested on:2/24/2013 9:33:54 PMScore:5874Average Framerate:47.597Performance:Very High -Easily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.

I might turn on the FXAA anti-aliasing depending on how much it affects my framerate. I'm disappointed that I couldn't run the benchmark at 2560x1440, which is the resolution I was at during alpha testing. I set the framerate cap to 30 during the alpha and it ran really nicely, so I'm expecting similar results this go-around.

If so, can you at least say whether it's fun and or big/small/gigantic improvement over 14? Also if under an NDA, when does it lift? Can't find it on the Googles.

Everything I'm about to say is stuff that has already been unveiled in some manner through developer commentary and Youtube videos.

In terms of content structure, it's pretty much your standard theme park MMO with some Warhammer/Guild Wars 2/Rift public quests thrown in, though with a more methodical combat system that doesn't allow you to spam moves. You can see what I mean from the Youtube combat videos released so far, where you can see the global cooldown timer kick in for every attack. Some don't like it and want something more... faster paced. Personally, I'm OK with the methodical pacing. Twitchier MMOs would be better served as full-on action games, which they are not, and I find myself not enjoying them as a result. The pacing for FFXIV's combat sits between your standard theme park MMO and Final Fantasy XI which is exactly what I've been looking for. I'll get my twitch gameplay from Dragon's Dogma 2 (or Deep Down or whatever Capcom wants to call it).

There is no shortage of theme park MMOs, but this one comes with the Square Enix level of polish you expect from them for their big budget releases. As we all know, FFXIV 1.0 was NOT given that level of polish, which everyone got to listen to me bitch about ad infinitum. With 2.0 however, there is no mistaking that this is a Final Fantasy product with love and care put into it, and it is a tremendous improvement over 1.0 in almost every department (I miss a few of Uematsu's songs which seem to have been almost completely replaced). I want to say a lot more about the game's world, but I can't with the NDA. All I can say is, I'm very impressed with what they've accomplished, especially in the small timeframe they've done it in.

I can say with certainty that I will be there for launch. I can also say with certainty that I will definitely not be starting in Gridania when the game releases. Alpha and the first two phases of beta are Gridania only, so I won't be wanting to start a level 1 character and going through Gridania's level 1 content for the fourth time right at launch. In fact, I'll likely be starting in Ul'dah like before since I'm feeling that itch to tank once again.

Just bought a laptop last night for an emergency installation in manhattan, but it's a pretty shit one. If it can run ffxiv though, I'll probably try to be there at launch...unless they attempt a ps3 launch alongside it, then I'm all over the pstriple launch.

PS3 launch is simultaneous. Phase 3 is when the PS3 beta begins. Phase 2 is gamepad testing on PC, of which feedback for gamepad testing will impact both PC and PS3 players. I'm a gamepad guy, so I am really pumped for phase 2.

PS3 launch is simultaneous. Phase 3 is when the PS3 beta begins. Phase 2 is gamepad testing on PC, of which feedback for gamepad testing will impact both PC and PS3 players. I'm a gamepad guy, so I am really pumped for phase 2.

PS3 launch is simultaneous. Phase 3 is when the PS3 beta begins. Phase 2 is gamepad testing on PC, of which feedback for gamepad testing will impact both PC and PS3 players. I'm a gamepad guy, so I am really pumped for phase 2.

PS3 launch is simultaneous. Phase 3 is when the PS3 beta begins. Phase 2 is gamepad testing on PC, of which feedback for gamepad testing will impact both PC and PS3 players. I'm a gamepad guy, so I am really pumped for phase 2.